Retired coach firm owner Colin Wint was stunned to see the car he spent 10 years bringing back to life sat aboard a raft on national television.

The 78-year-old had sold his Matra Bagheera in August last year, having fully restored it from being an absolute non-runner to a head-turner at car shows.

Now the 1979 hatchback will be seen in action by millions of car fans after it landed a place on Top Gear – with Colin's family spotting it appear in a trailer for the popular BBC show.

The opening credits for the latest series of the long-serving motoring show features the Bagheera sat aboard a raft with three men armed with paddles while presenter Paddy McGuinness looks on.

Colin's Matra after he restored the vehicle

It is due to feature in tonight's episode where Paddy, along with fellow new presenter and former cricket star Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, travel across Borneo – with the aid of Gurkha soldiers – to the palace of the Sultan of Brunei.

And Colin, who lives in Butterton near Leek, says he doesn't think the car will let them down despite its age.

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Colin hadn't seen the vehicle since then – until it featured in the opening credits for Top Gear. He said: "My grandson told me it was going to be on Top Gear as he saw it on television and you can see its registration plate.

"I'd had a bit of bump in it and sprayed part of the corner and you can actually see that.

Colin with a picture of his car and a brochure to promote it

"I am interested to see what it's used for – and they will probably wreck it. It is quite fast and won't let them down."

Colin's wife Diane, said: "It always seemed like something needed doing to it but he did well restoring it and it always got a lot of attention."

While the segment featuring the Bagheera is yet to be screened it has found itself attracting national attention.

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Once back in the UK and Colin's former car and the other vehicle used in filming were painted with the Pride flag colours in protest at Brunei's treatment of the LGBT community.

The gesture was made by the show in response to the nation's threat to make homosexuality punishable by stoning to death, which came about just after the segment had been filmed.

Flintoff told The Guardian newspaper he and his colleagues were horrified by the announcement.

The cars were painted in the Pride colours as a show of support (Image: Jeff Spicer/BBC)

He said: "We would never have filmed in Brunei had the law been announced beforehand. Like millions of other people around the world, I utterly condemn Brunei’s actions. No one deserves to be stoned to death, whoever they love. Love is love."

Following an international outcry Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah extended a moratorium on the death penalty saying it would not be enforced.

Flintoff told The Guardian: "In the last couple of months we have thought very hard about dropping the film entirely but we shot it before the change in the law, and both the Gurkhas and other Bruneians worked incredibly hard to make it happen.

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"We don’t want all their efforts to be for nothing. So we’ve decided to go ahead and show it [and] we’ve given the cars a little makeover."

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